Neill Ostrout, Staff Writer

Published 4:05 pm, Tuesday, August 30, 2011

UCONN RUNNING GAME VS. FORDHAM RUN DEFENSE: The Huskies have two largely untested runners at tailback in senior D.J. Shoemate and redshirt freshman Lyle McCombs. And the Rams were fairly stout against the run last season. But the teams are obviously in a different class in the trenches and UConn's O-line should be able to create large holes. Edge: UConn

UCONN PASSING GAME VS. FORDHAM PASS DEFENSE: UConn will begin the season with a new quarterback (whoever that might be) and without its leading receiver from a year ago. Oh, and the Huskies haven't exactly lit things up through the air in the last seven years. Still, Thursday should give them a chance to work out any bugs in the passing offense. Edge: UConn

UCONN RETURN GAME VS. FORDHAM KICK COVERAGE: Fordham's Patrick Murray is no slouch as a punter, and is solid on kickoffs, too. But UConn has Nick Williams, who led the nation in kickoff return average last season. Edge: UConn

FORDHAM RUNNING GAME VS. UCONN RUN DEFENSE: Running back Darryl Whiting is big (6-3, 235) and showed last year he's tough to bring down by FCS standards. Look for converted quarterback Blake Wayne (technically a WR) to carry it some, too. UConn's defensive front, despite some small question marks at linebacker, should be up to the challenge. Edge: UConn

FORDHAM PASSING GAME VS. UCONN PASS DEFENSE: True freshman Peter Maetzold is likely to start for the Rams, but coach Tom Masella said he expects to play two quarterbacks Thursday night. They may be able to make some plays, but UConn cornerbacks Blidi Wreh-Wilson and Dwayne Gratz have looked very good in the preseason. Edge: UConn

FORDHAM RETURN GAME VS. UCONN KICK COVERAGE: UConn punter Cole Wagner developed into a real weapon last season as a freshman but some of that was aided by the remarkable downfield coverage of the now departed Anthony Sherman. Freshman Vaughn Scott is scheduled to handle both punt and kickoff returns for Fordham. Edge: UConn

COACHING: Paul Pasqualoni will begin his second tour as a Division I-A (FBS) head coach, an opportunity he called "very, very important and very meaningful to me." The staff Pasqualoni has assembled, including the holdovers from the Randy Edsall era, has seemingly meshed well. The coaching staffs at both schools are fairly familiar with each other, in part because of Masella's career coaching in the region (CCSU, Fairfield, UConn, UMass). Edge: UConn

INTANGIBLES: One thing Fordham has in its favor, perhaps the only thing, is that the Rams have absolutely nothing to lose. They're supposed to lose this game, so there really isn't any pressure to win. Sometimes in those situations, that's exactly what the underdog does. The fact that the Rams have eight players from the state of Connecticut, including several key contributors on defense such as safety Brendan Melanophy (Danbury) and linebacker Andre Delaire (Bloomfield), makes motivation a relatively easy task. Edge: Fordham